Save Our Rail has never been opposed to development in the Newcastle CBD and it is long been on the public record as regards the need for greater pedestrian access between Hunter St and the Honeysuckle/Foreshore area. Save Our Rail has been vigorously promoting a development plan for the Newcastle CBD since it was first ...

Joan Dawson, Save Our Rail President Save Our Rail has continued to resist any attempt to cut the Newcastle rail line. Following the 2006 announcement by NSW Premier, Morris Iemma, that the rail line to Newcastle would be retained and there would be an improvement program, we thought we could maybe have a party and ...

[NOTE: October 2008: This plan is being currently being expanded to address all north-south connectivity issues, as per our October 19th media release, and will deliver a solution superior to GPT’s proposal while retaining the rail. When ready, it will be posted on this website.] — Proposal now available here. A delegation from Save Our ...

Joan Dawson, Save Our Rail President Newcastle Line The battle to retain heavy electric rail services to Newcastle Station continues. Currently the NSW Government is carrying out an investigation into the Hunter Business Chamber proposal to remove the electric service from Newcastle and electrify the Hunter Line to Warabrook. The plan is aimed at gaining ...

On 18th January 2007, the Hunter Business Chamber conducted a transport group forum at which Save Our Rail gave a brief presentation titled “Transport Development for the Hunter Community”. Download a copy of Save Our Rail’s presentation here: SOR – Transport Presentation – 18-Jan-2007.pdf (960 kB)

Save Our Rail representatives met with the Premier’s Department IIG (Infrastructure Implementation Group) to be advised of progress since Mr Iemma’s announcement that the rail would be retained to Newcastle Station. Save Our Rail is concerned that this will not actually be the outcome because of an intention to remove electrification from the Newcastle line. ...

Joan Dawson, Save Our Rail President In this 12 month period Save Our Rail has achieved a great degree of success towards the achievement of the central goals of maintaining the rail service into Newcastle and improving transport for the region. Towards these ends we have organised and participated in many events and meetings and ...

The State Government is now considering cutting the electric service to Newcastle, threatening the viability of the whole Lower Hunter transport system. This would disadvantage all passengers through: inconvenience delay overcrowding on the Hunter Line loss of direct link to Newcastle from Sydney, Central Coast and Lake Macquarie, including the proposed Glendale Station. It would ...

Below is the full text of the Hunter Transport Taskforce Report from the NSW Premier’s Department in February 2006. Hunter Transport Taskforce Report February 2006 Recommendations Maintain existing rail services to Newcastle, while further work is undertaken on options for Modified Light Rail. Improve current rail corridor to: reduce waiting times for road traffic and ...

Save Our Rail welcomes the NSW Government decision to retain rail services to Newcastle. We will be constructively engaging in discussions with the government regarding the $20 million. We do not accept the Chamber of Commerce model as workable because of major technical flaws and concern over the proposed change of mode which would impact ...

Two documents are available below as PDF files. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view them. First, Professor Graham Currie’s report “Decision to Close the Newcastle Branch Rail Line – Independent Review of Transport Reports – Final Report”. Download the 38 page full report here: Currie-Rail-Review-Final-Report.pdf (157 kB) This report details the findings of ...

Newcastle Council Chambers – Today Prof Graham Currie [1] slammed the reports used to recommend the closure of the Newcastle rail. Internationally recognised transport expert Prof Graham Currie addressed Newcastle Council which had commissioned him to provide an independent review of the reports recommending the closure of the Newcastle rail line. Prof Currie pointed out ...

Submission prepared for Save Our Rail NSW Inc. by Joan Dawson Email: info@saveourrail.com.au Introduction Save Our Rail is a community organisation reflecting community concerns regarding all public transport issues, but with a particular focus on rail, because of the threat to close the Newcastle rail service. We welcome any move by the NSW Government to ...

Below is an extract from two speeches given by our President, Joan Dawson, in 2005 to the TAFE Teachers’ Association and to the Lake Macquarie Teachers’ Association. It focuses on the conflict of interest between the report recommending the closure of the Newcastle rail line and those interests seeking to gain from its complete removal. ...

Joan Dawson, Save Our Rail NSW Inc President, gave a speech at Newcastle Station on 22nd December 2005 as part of the hand over of Prof Graham Currie’s report to Member for Newcastle, Bryce Gaudry. The report referred to in her speech is “Decision to Close the Newcastle Branch Rail Line – Independent Review of ...

Professor Graham Currie of Monash University has completed a report commissioned by the Lower Hunter Local Government Councils into the efficacy of reports the NSW Government has acted upon regarding the proposed closure of rail services into Newcastle. Professor Currie has described these reports as “biased, flawed and misrepresented” resulting in faulty multi-million dollar decisions ...

Despite the thousand of letters and petitions that have already been presented to the NSW government, the latest Premier’s Lower Hunter Transport Task Force (PLHTF) has stated that they haven’t received any letters protesting against the proposed closure from NEWCASTLE people. Newcastle people are the least users and so are least affected by the rail ...

NEWCASTLE FORESHORE – Railfest was a day of festivities on the Newcastle Foreshore on Sunday, 2nd of October 2005 to demonstrate community support for the Newcastle Rail Service, celebrate 150 years of rail services in NSW, raise awareness and funds for the campaign to Save Our Rail. Save Our Rail exceeded all its previous public ...